Digital libraries and collections are a growing facet of today's traditional library. Digital library technologies have become increasingly more sophisticated in the effort to provide more and better access to the collections they contain. The evaluation of the usability of these technologies has not kept pace with technological developments,…

In this paper, the issues involved in aligning national and meta-frameworks are explored and analysed. The exploration is timely, given that two qualifications meta-frameworks are currently being developed and implemented in Europe: the question is now how relationships should be established between these new reference tools and national…

This paper is a discussion of the use of metadata, in its various manifestations, to access information. Information management standards are discussed. The connection between the ancient world and the modern world is highlighted. Individual perspectives are paramount in fulfilling information seeking. Metadata is interpreted and reflected upon in…

Since the late 1990s, few case studies on implementation of Encoded Archival Description (EAD) have appeared in the literature. How has or hasn't the landscape changed? This article reports on the experience of EAD planning and implementation at the University of Minnesota Libraries and suggests that though many of the lessons learned by early…

The rapid growth in online and virtual learning opportunities has created culturally diverse classes and corporate training sessions. Instruction for these learning opportunities must adjust to meet participant needs. "Online Course Management: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications" is a comprehensive reference source for the…

Reviews major developments in the MAchine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) format renamed MARC 21 for the twenty-first century, including a description of metadata schemes and cross-walks. Offers an assessment of how well MARC works for Arabic script materials; describes the degree to which MARC is used in Saudi Arabia; and considers prospects for the…

Describes the CCF (Common Communication Format) and the INFLIBNET (Information and Library Network) standard, two forms of metadata developed to represent the bibliographic resources available to libraries and to facilitate easy retrieval of resources. Proposes a crosswalk between core CCF and INFLIBNET bibliographic data fields and 15 Dublin Core…

Describes the Web Characterization Project that characterizes the use of metadata in Web documents by extracting a valid sample. Discusses Web resource discovery and description; sampling methods; metadata and embedded document description; HTML; Dublin Core metadata elements; and home pages versus internal Web pages. (Author/LRW)

Describes how the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata was developed and how it relates to USMARC Format for Bibliographic Data to provide the ability to communicate and access descriptions for digital spatial datasets. A crosswalk that correlates the geospatial metadata data element to the appropriate USMARC field or subfield is…

Surveys ongoing metadata projects to identify the types of metadata that exist and how they are used; compares and analyzes selected metadata elements to illustrate how they are related to MARC 21 metadata format elements; and discusses metadata standards, Dublin Core, diversity in classification, and the role of the Library of Congress.…

Includes four articles that discuss Dublin Core metadata, digital rights management and electronic books, including interoperability; and directed query engines, a type of search engine designed to access resources on the deep Web that is being used at the Department of Energy. (LRW)

This article presents a case study of how Oregon State University Libraries (OSUL) organized to accomplish digitization activities. Digitization activities are broken down into six major categories: management, copyright, digital imaging, metadata, hardware/software/web design, and selection. The OSUL departments responsible for tasks within each…

This chapter looks at the development and nature of learning objects, meta-tagging standards and taxonomies, learning object repositories, learning object repository characteristics, and types of learning object repositories, with type examples. (Contains 1 table.)

Keeping a history of peace studies. Cataloging audio and video broadcasts important to the Northwest. Digitizing images and other documents older than the state of California. All of these efforts are important steps toward preserving the history of the nation's development. Digital library initiatives are nothing new; the effort to digitize data…

Describes the characteristics of natural languages that hinder the optimal organization and accessing of networked resources, focusing on the semantic mapping processes utilizing thesauri or metadata. Considers future information retrieval system design, especially networked retrieval and natural language, and gives an example of problems in…